• North Sea oil rig evacuated after bomb alarm

    More than 500 North Sea oil rig workers evacuated by helicopters after false alarm about an explosive device; bomb-disposal team dispatched

  • New vehicle "arrester" certified by TTI

    Critical infrastructure facilities, military bases, and government buildings need to be able to stop a car or a truck laden with explosives driving toward them at a great rate of speed; cement barriers and embedded vertical bar installations interfere with routine traffic and spoil the landscape; a Pennsylvania company offers a solution: A retractable net placed underground which, at the flick of a button, springs to catch, cradle, and arrest an oncoming vehicle, safely bringing it to a controlled stop

  • NIST launches Web site to validated software security tools for federal IT

    In recent years, the U.S. government has increased the security requirements for federal information systems; to make it easier for IT staff at federal agencies to maintain their systems’ security, NIST, DOD, DHS, and the MITRE Corporation recently introduced a technical framework called the Security Content Automation Protocol (SCAP)

  • IPv6 is about to arrive -- and with it many opportunities

    IPv6 will offer government agencies better security, flexible networking, and a very large number of IP addresses; management will be critical; “It’s a huge shift in paradigm,” says Microsoft’s Sean Siler

  • Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactor Prototype Development, MOU

    The U.S., France, and Japan agree to collaborate on sodium-cooled fast reactor prototype development; a sodium-cooled fast reactor uses liquid sodium to transfer heat, burning the plutonium and other transuranic elements in the process producing clean, safe nuclear power, less waste, and increasing non-proliferation goals

  • Defending cities against dirty bombs is difficult

    DHS efforts to develop technologies for detecting dirty bombs run into criticism of the feasibility of the technology and questions about the cost-benefit analysis used to justify the deployment of the systems

  • AUV to undertake underwater pipe inspection

    Aussie researchers to develop an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) to assess the integrity of pipelines which lie up to 2.5 km below sea level, and evaluate the changing conditions of the sea-floor

  • University of New Hampshire launches alert network

    More and more schools and colleges install alert notification systems which allow for quick and reliable dissemination of alerts through different media; University of New Hampshire install a system from Cooper Notification; the system has three interesting features: Alumni and parents of students can join the network; the system allows for exchanging information with local law enforcement authorities; the system is connected to a nationwide information exchange network

  • EVT in distribution agreement with Russian security distributor

    Russian security distributor orders 1,000 Licenses for Vertex Networked Video Management Software from EVT; Russia is a lucrative market for surveillance equipment and gear aimed at critical infrastructure facilities

  • Beijing to examine water safety daily ahead of Olympics

    As is the case with many other things in China, water is polluted, too; ahead of the Summer Olympic Games, China establishes water monitoring teams to perform round-the-clock checks and maintenance of the water pipelines and ground water systems

  • U.S. to increase Earth observation capabilities

    In 2006 the administration cut the budget for several planned sensors which would have sustained key, long-standing climate measurements; the new Bush budget proposal shows that funding for these sensors has been restored — even enhanced

  • Wind farms "a threat to [U.K.] national security"

    The U.K. has an ambitious plan calling for producing a third of Britain’s energy needs from offshore wind farms; there is a problem, though: The Ministry of Defense says that both onshore and offshore wind turbines create gaps in radar coverage of the coast line, allowing a sneak aerial attack on the country

  • Hamburg’s Deutsche Bahn selects Verint solution

    Verint’s networked video solution aims to enhance security across Germany’s second city’s urban railway network

  • March Networks to acquire Cieffe

    Canadian provider of intelligent IP video acquires innovative designer of award-winning IP video surveillance solutions; acquisition will expand March Networks’ European presence

  • PSA issues Secure America Challenge to candidates

    Top Democrats and Republicans issue bipartisan agenda for next president; Senator Warren Rudman: “Republicans and Democrats can agree that securing global nuclear stockpiles to prevent terrorists from buying or stealing materials for a nuclear weapon is at the top of the agenda”